1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to wireless networking, and more specifically, to searching for a match between profiles of wireless devices within a vicinity of a wireless coverage area.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are a variety of on-line services that match users with targeted content using profiles. Users of these on-line services create profiles for interacting with an on-line service. The on-line services store profiles containing attributes of each piece of content. When a user is logged onto an on-line service, the service may match the information stored in the user's profile with attributes of the available content, so as to provide the user with targeted content. Examples of on-line services include social networking services such as MySpace™ and Linked-In™, advertising services such as Google™, shopping services such as Amazon™, classifieds services such as Craig's List™ and E-Bay™, game services such as Xbox Live™, and media distribution services such as iTunes™ and BitTorrent™.
Presently, these on-line services may not match a user with content based on the user's interest in receiving such content and also based on the user's proximity to other users. For example, on-line services may not provide a user with information about nearby users with matching interests, or information relating to items of interest in a store where the user is currently located while shopping.